SI Grades the Giants in Their NFC East Off-Season Report Card

Sports Illustrated has released their grades for the offseason to this point, including of course the Giants and the rest of the NFC East.

Here’s some of what the site had to say about the Giants to this point in the offseason.

Strangely enough, that Giants’ pass rush also had another upper-echelon defensive end: Jason Pierre-Paul. He was re-signed for $62 million over four years. Like Vernon, Pierre-Paul is a monster against the run. And it’s not like these two can’t put the heat on quarterbacks. Both just need to do it more regularly.

Typically an impotent pass rush fells a defense. But the Giants have something no other team has save for the Broncos: three high-quality pure cover corners: Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie plus last year’s newcomers, Janoris Jenkins and Eli Apple. As long as these guys are on the field, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo can dial up any blitz imaginable. And he does. Spagnuolo can be especially creative with his blitzes out of two-safety coverages, which is unusual (in most blitzes there’s just one safety back).

The only tenuous thing with this defense is its depth. If any of the corners are out, it’s in trouble. Recall the playoff loss last year at Green Bay. Rodgers-Cromartie left with a thigh injury on the first series. That compromised part of the man coverage’s reliability, which wiped several blitz packages off Spagnuolo’s play sheet. Eventually Aaron Rodgers exploited this.

Grade: B+

You can read the rest of what SI has to say about the Giants, as well as the NFC East by clicking HERE